Empty Classrooms
In 2001-2005, Milwaukee Public Schools spent $102 million building new classrooms, science labs and libraries to revamp neighborhood schools and thus reduce the costs of busing by convincing parents to choose nearby schools. In an excellent series, "Subtraction by Addition," Dave Umhoefer and Alan J. Borsuk of the Journal Sentinel examine the results.
A massive building expansion by Milwaukee Public Schools has saddled the district with tens of millions of dollars worth of vacant or severely underused school additions, a Journal Sentinel investigation found….
The Journal Sentinel found that enrollment has dropped at nearly half the schools that added classrooms under the building program. Interest payments will push the final cost past $175 million by 2024 because most of the money was borrowed….
The Journal Sentinel visited every school that built or leased additions, conducting the first comprehensive review of the program approved by the School Board in 2000.
Reporters found that excess classrooms had been converted to storage, detention areas, recreation rooms, small-scale special education classes and teacher's lounges -- if they were used at all.
Test scores have fallen sharply at many of the schools, while busing costs have risen.
http://www.jsonline.com/index/index.aspx?id=326